Bank Street (Ottawa)
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Bank Street (French: Rue Bank) is the major commercial north–south street in
Bank Street made up much of Highway 31 before it was downloaded in 1998 (all of it south of Heron Road).[1][2] Currently it is also known as Ottawa Road #31.
Features
Between Wellington Street and Gladstone Avenue in downtown, Bank Street is a shopping and business development district officially known as the "Bank Street Promenade" and the street is lined with common signage affixed to streetlights and street-level advertising billboards showing this distinction.
The area between Somerset Street West and Gladstone Avenue (within the Bank Street Promenade) is considered the centre of Ottawa's burgeoning gay village, characterized by a small concentration of businesses targeted to Ottawa's LGBT community. In 2011, the city officially unveiled signs identifying the neighbourhood as Ottawa's gay village, at the intersections of Somerset, James and Nepean Streets with Bank Street.[3]
Travelling south, there exists a shopping district in The Glebe running exclusively along Bank Street from approximately the
Bank Street north of Billings Bridge is an historic urban arterial road, often with many more pedestrians than vehicular traffic and significant parking issues, hence the flow is generally quite slow. South of Billings Bridge to Leitrim Road, the street turns into a more modern four-lane (or five-lane) urban arterial, which flows much better despite the 50 km/h (30 mph) speed limit on the northern half and 60 km/h (about 40 mph) from South Keys southward. South of Leitrim it is a rural two-lane highway with an 80 km/h speed limit until the community of Vernon. Recently, just south of Leitrim Road, Bank Street gives access to a developing neighborhood called Findlay Creek that will become quite significant in the long term, and it will also provide access (after secondary roads are extended) to the community of Riverside South.
Bank Street also serves in some contexts as an unofficial division between "eastern" and "western" Ottawa. For example, prior to the takeover of Maclean-Hunter by Rogers Cable in 1994, the street marked the division between those cable companies' service areas in Ottawa: cable subscribers west of Bank Street were served by Maclean-Hunter, while cable subscribers east of Bank Street were served by Rogers.
History
Name of the street
Contrary to popular belief, the street is not named after the
As a Provincial Highway
Highway 31 was formed in 1927, and started at the junction of
Bank Street rehabilitation
Portions of Bank Street have undergone major reconstruction each year since 2006.[6] The City of Ottawa held public consultations for a major redevelopment of Bank Street between Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal.[7]
Major intersections (from North to South)
- Ottawa Road 34 (Wellington Street)
- Ottawa Road 48 (Laurier Avenue)
- Ottawa Road 36 (Somerset Street)
- Gladstone Avenue
- Highway 417
- Ottawa Road 19 (Riverside Drive)
- Ottawa Road 16 (Heron Road)
- Ottawa Road 103 (Alta Vista Drive)
- Walkley Road
- Ottawa Road 32 (Hunt Club Road)
- Albion Road
- Ottawa Road 125 (Conroy Road)
- Ottawa Road 14 (Leitrim Road)
- Ottawa Road 8 (Mitch Owens Road)
- Ottawa Road 6 (Snake Island Road)
- Ottawa Road 4 (Dalmeny Road)
Areas/Communities
- Downtown Ottawa
- Centretown
- The Glebe
- Ottawa South
- Billings Bridge
- South Keys
- Blossom Park
- Findlay Creek/Leitrim
- Greely
- Metcalfe
- Vernon
References
- ^ King's Highway 31
- ^ "Report to Transportation Committee". City of Ottawa. 7 September 2004. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
- Capital Xtra!, November 7, 2011.
- ^ Katerhine Fletcher Capital Walks: Walking Tours of Ottawa, 2004, p. 163.
- ^ "Billings Bridge Map 1879". Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
- ^ Gladstone, David (20 April 2007). "Is Centretown really growing?". Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ ""From Downtown to Lansdowne"". Archived from the original on 5 March 2005. Retrieved 26 February 2024.